Systematic Approach

The Hogy Playbook

I remember striper fishing in the 1980s when a “keeper” striped bass in Massachusetts was 36” but the limit may as well have been 68” there were so few around. Striper times were tough. Believe it or not, sea bass were hard to catch too To make inshore matters seem even less fun, trolling with wire line on heavy outfits was the most common method to target big stripers and blues on artificials and the hot spinning outfit at the time was a very heavy-duty fiberglass 7’ Spinning outfit loaded with HI-Vis yellow line

Oh, how times are different today! Thanks to several federal and state fisheries management success stories, fishing in New England offers one of those rare instances in life where something is actually “better today” than it was in the good-ole days Yes, I understand we’re off some of our peak numbers and we all need to work on our best practices, but I still argue we are living in the golden age of inshore fishing

A new angler today can easily find some great topwater angling at more civilized hours than the “the good ole days” with just a little guidance Cruise at maybe twice the speed on more reliable boats We have sea bass everywhere and the biggest fluke I have ever seen in my life. The gear we use today is a million % lighter, stronger, and more fun to use Who knew you could vertical jig for stripers with such light outfits? That groundfish would eat 100% artificial lures?

Yes, you still need to learn how to find and target fish and the true joy of fishing is figuring them out, but when we do find them, modern gear and techniques make the sport so much more pleasurable (in my opinion) and accessible to more folks

The flip side to today’s modern gear is that there are almost too many great options out there. It’s daunting when I think about what a new angler must see when trying to figure it all out Today, there’s seemingly a lure and rod paired for each other for every possible situation you might encounter. If that’s your thing: Go For it! But if you’re like me, an angler that just wants to focus on the fishing and count on your gear to deliver, today’s gear proliferation is simply too much So much so, I’ve purged all my outfits down to just a handful and carry an essential collection of lures that comprise a well thought out system. I know each lure like the back of my hand - allowing my eyes more time on the water finding fish

Example: Albie & Bonito Mastery Course with Capt. Mike

The tips and techniques inside have served me well over the last 40 years. THAT SAID, I am fully aware that if you ask 10 other Captains, you’ll likely get 10 different playbooks that fish at least as well as this one. The one thing I promise here is that you’ll learn a simplified approach to inshore fishing that hopefully frees up more focus on fishing and less time fussing with complicated gear

Fish Smart. Fish Simple.